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The Acidine Guard
The Acidine Guard was founded by The Magistrate to act as a police force on the streets of Tot, where many broadwing gryphons are simply too large to be of use. They work daily with their gryphon brethren in the sky to keep the peace in Tot. Beyond the bounds of Tot, however, the Acidine Guard has a greater goal: to guard not only the citizens of the city, but the technologies they once possessed. All work done by the Guard is done in the interest of improvement, and the betterment of life on Tier. The Acidian, a figure of public stature and great mystery, is revered by many citizens of Tot. Few know what it is that they do, or where it is that they come from; the title of Acidian is shrouded with intrigue. The Guard The main face of the Acidine Guard is the Acidian: the heavily armored officer of the guard who patrols the streets of Tot. Six days out of the week, Acidians act as law enforcement in the city. They are heavily armed and travel with a less than cuddly pet; should they find anything amiss in the streets, it's not such a hard task to set things straight again. Not that they usually have to. The sight of a man or beast in armor as thick as your fist, riding by on a giant scorpion, is generally enough to quiet things down. Structure At the head of all Acidine Guard operations lies The Magistrate, the founders and monetary backers of the Guard. The Acidians operate in units much like the gryphons' wings. At the head of each unit is a Commander. Beneath the Commander are two to three lieutenants, and up to twenty officers. Tech priests within the guard have no discernible hierarchy; they work more or less as a unit on large projects, and independently on smaller ones, working out amongst themselves who does what as they go. To watch them in this process is otherworldly: the lack of quarreling between the tech priests is almost inhuman. 'The Brutesquad ' The Brutesquad is a unit of unruly Acidians who's primary function is riot control in Dagenham. They can be adequately described as the Acidine Almost Rejects. Lieutenant *Lt. Johannes Emmerich Officers *Mykola Petrichor *Lennox McTrotter *Percival Lamont The Adric Institute At the very center of the city stands one thin and tall tower, which stands high above anything around it. The Justice Court is the home of The Authority. Named for its founder, Joseph Adric, the Adric Institute appears to be more of an overstated factory building than any sort of institute you or I know. It is long and tall, its one-way-glass-panneled sides proudly reflecting the towers of the Authority building which spawned it. Housed safely within these secretive walls, it is thought that some lofty project must be underway by the tech priests and Acidians seen bustling in and out of the place. It is also here that young Acidians are trained and housed in seperate dormitories and apartment complexes. Training There is a lot of mystery surrounding the process of how an Acidian comes to be an Acidian. It is thought that they are simply born that way, but this isn't entirely true. Gifted children are picked out at an early age by the Magistrate and gifted to the Acidian Academy, where they grow up in the presence of other children aspiring to become Acidians. They are taught to fight, to use firearms, to work as a team with a vexid, and to recognize important technology. Aspiring Acidians tend to be quite brilliant when it comes to knowledge of technologies: many of the brightest students rival the scientists of our time. Students who do not display promise as an Acidian are not punished; it's all quite civil. Instead, they are sent back to their parents, with a promise to have their tongues cut out if word travels that they've been sharing Acidian secrets. As for tech priests, it is unknown how they come to be as they are. Tech priests don't tend to be a very chatty pack, you see. It is assumed that they were once average screws, who simply took it a step or two too far. Beats The districts should equally be divided and each beat will need at least two Guardsmen in order to facilitate an active police force on Tot while still sending a team to Tier to recover tech and useful materials. Depending on the size of the district there are likely plenty of beats and many openings for more Guards to trade and move about in case one beat becomes too weary for the guard or the citizens. Citizen safety is always our primary concern but their comfort is not. In adition to weekly rotation of units between patrolling the city and tumbling to the surface, an Acidian may be asked to serve a span of time aboard the Catharsis as a prison warden. 'Rapid Response System' If there's major trouble and backup is required, a suspect is fleeing down streets too narrow for a Vexid, or if a citizen is in critical need of medical care, this could be useful. Standard equipment for Acidine Guard is a Hand-held Flare Launcher, which could be for other reasons as well. The flares are launched up high enough to be spotted by other Acidians or Silverwings, the number and color depending on the situation. See Also: Rapid Response System Acidian Uniform & Equipment In addition to a plainclothes uniform an Acidine may be called to wear, and a facy-dress uniform for special public events an Adicine is responsible for keeping and mainting a fit and working stormsuit, tack for his vexid and his own equipment. 'The Stormsuit' An Acidian's armor is a thick, full-body suit, called a stormsuit. The stormsuit's face is shielded in heavy glass, and accented by a gas mask with tubes that fall down the chest, wrap around the body, and connect to a pack on the back. An Acidian stormsuit can withstand toxic gases and acidic rain with no damage to the pilot. 'Weaponry' Every Guardsmen(women) are to carry weapons on and off duty as the danger to them is constant. Being on a Vexid does not ensure your safety only provide a lowered risk. Always be vigilant and prepared to fight because the chances are, you will need to. The weaponry that an Acidian carries is not limited to a simple shot and pistol, though little more than that is necessary in the city. They are also outfitted with machinery that can fight bugs on the surface. Acidians and the Surface Not everything could be taken along when the inhabitants of Tier took to the skies and seas, and part of the Acidine Guard’s purpose is to recover things that have been lost. Each member of the Guard regularly goes to the surface with their Vexid. Though average citizens rarely notice the loss, a group of Acidians tumbles (aka, flies down to the surface of Tier) every day. (Each Acidian only tumbles one day out of each week, and they rotate days amongst themselves so that there is always a police force present in Tot.) While on the surface, the Acidian plays many roles: they take part in the construction of a new colony for a time when the ground is once again safe to live on... they act as a protective unit to the scientists who are attempting to reverse the effects of the acid and revitalize the soil... But these are merely trifles. Though the project is kept largely under wraps by The Authority, the Acidian's main goal on the surface is to locate and retrieve items of lost technology from the heart of the Tier Industrial Revolution. These pieces of technology, long abandoned and forgotten, are thought to contain the solution to improved life for all of the overpopulated and underfed cities of Tier. Acidians and Vexids Acidians travel with horse-sized scorpions called vexids. Though the vexid is seen on Tot as a sort of boogeyman companion for Acidians, to Acidians themselves their vexid represents the difference between life and death. The vexid is a skilled fighter, and with help from shouted commands from the Acidian, a vexid is of more use against the bugs on the surface, many of whom have armor too thick to be pierced by average guns. Besides their flare for fighting, an Acidian's vexid serves as safe transportation through portions of the surface which are decaying under the acid, and would sink under the Acidian's heavy boot. Spreading the weight over the surface area of the vexid's eight legs provides a more steady footing, as well as faster travel. As Guards are intended to ride, instruct and fight from the horse sized scorpion, there is also a unique shaped latching system or saddling system needed to allow the rider to remain on board but mobile enough to avoid the attack of bugs, angered citizens or even a fellow Guard gone rogue (strongly discouraged). Tech Priests Though few realize this truth - because the operation is kept almost entirely off the radar by The Authority - the Acidians are not the only acting force within the Acidine Guard. In fact, their jobs would be absolutely pointless if not for a key figure: the tech priests. The tech priest's role in the Acidine Guard is key: they are the ones who interpret and reproduce the forgotten technologies found by Acidians.